


The End of the Line

by huiasong



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Compliant, Funeral, Mourning, Post-Endgame, Spoilers, Stucky - Freeform, Time Travel, Unrequited Love, major-character death, old captain america, post Endgame, stevebucky - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-05
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-04-08 05:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19100854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huiasong/pseuds/huiasong
Summary: Bucky has to watch Steve pass away the same way Steve watched Peggy pass away, only Bucky didn’t have the option to go back in time to be with Steve.





	The End of the Line

**Author's Note:**

> sorry for this :( Im in my post-endgame sad cave

Bucky finally understood why Steve went back in time. Burying the love of your life is one of the most emotionally taxing things anyone could experience. The only difference between them, though, was that Bucky didn’t get the chance to go back and live the life he always wanted with that special someone— not the way Steve had.

He remembered Steve telling him about Peggy— about how he watched her memories get slowly eaten away before her body finally gave out. He visited her every chance he got and told her stories about his endeavors since coming out of the ice. Being with someone in their lowest moments, physically and mentally, is true love, and Steve proved that no matter what version of Peggy was looking back at him, he would still adore her. 

It was a beautiful sentiment that he still held her wrinkled hand while she laid on her deathbed. True love is one that transcends time, afterall.

But Steve got the chance to do something no one else could. He had the chance to go back to a time where Peggy was still young and full of life. He got to sweep her off her feet and dance until the night gave out. 

But in no time, universe, or reality did Bucky Barnes get to live that experience. He would get to bury the love of his life, but unlike Captain America, never get the chance to return to a time where he was happy with his one and only.

He died in his sleep, peacefully, holding Bucky’s hand and with Sam watching from the corner of the hospital room. An unbearable ache crawled through Bucky’s veins and reached his heart, clutching tightly. 

He was happy for Steve, truly. He was happy that Steve got the ending he always wanted. He was happy Steve was able to have his white-picket fence life with an amazing wife and kids.

Letting Steve pursue all of that without interfering was the best way Bucky Barnes could repay Steve Rogers for everything he had done for him. For being his best friend. For being his savior. For always believing in him. It was the least he could do, but that didn’t mean that his emotional state wouldn’t be completely shattered in the process. Almost everyone had lost someone in the war against Thanos, but not everyone had let someone willingly slip away.

Bucky Barnes carried Steve Roger’s spangled casket, eyes bloodshot and mind foggy with pain. When he imagined himself walking down a church aisle while holding Steve, this had not been it.

The Avengers, their co-workers, their family, and a few members of Peggy’s bloodline looked up at Bucky as he made his way to the podium to give his eulogy. Sam had talked him into saying a few words, telling him that he’d deeply regret not saying goodbye at the funeral, so he decided to scrap a half-assed farewell on a post-it note and bring it with him.

He stared long and hard at the yellow squared paper in his hands and fiddled with the edges, knowing that everyone was anticipating a continuation to the ceremony. Bucky sniffled briskly as if willing himself to snap out of it. He crumbled the sticky-note and and adjusted the mic, bringing himself to say goodbye to his everything.

“Steve Rogers used to put newspapers inside of his shoes to fill in bigger sizes. He used to put on my 5-times-too-large World War II uniform and walk around the apartment. Steve Rogers used to give bread to a younger kid who sold newspapers down the street even when we barely had anything to eat ourselves. He used to pick fights with assholes around our neighborhood whose hobby was to torment fairies coming out of night-bars. That little punk used to scare me every winter with life-threatening fevers, and came home with a face full of bruises almost every week...” Bucky trailed off, knowing that he could go on and on about every righteous thing Steve had done for ages.

“He was so busy trying to be something he was physically not that he overlooked how much I admired him. I wish I were half the man Steve Rogers was or had a fraction of his heart. I wish the world hadn’t lost one of its best.

I wouldn’t know what love is if I hadn’t met that small, blond kid from Brooklyn, and I had come to terms with saying goodbye to that love since he decided to pursue his own. Steve Rogers believed in me when noone else did, saved me when everyone thought I was a dead man, and showed me love when even I thought I was unlovable, so my greatest joy in life is knowing that he was able to go back to someone that did the same for him. If that meant watching him grow old and eventually die, then I’ll bear as much pain as I have to,” Bucky turned his teary blue eyes to where his best friend laid, and directed his last words to him, hoping that Steve could hear him from wherever he was.

“I never got to tell you how many dreams I’ve dreamed about you or just how empty they seem without you now, but know that I kept my promise and was with you ‘til the end of the line, buddy. I’ll be okay.”


End file.
